About Walk With Words

Colchester City Council and the University of Essex have commissioned a wayfinding strategy for the walking routes between the University, Greenstead and the City Centre. This strategy has developed into a public art project named ‘Walk With Words’.

Walk With Words will exist across the physical and digital realm. It is an interactive walking trail which consists of 16 directional posts, each post contains a QR code which will present the user with a digital piece of work once scanned. This digital platform will act as an archive to all kinds of creative forms and formats inspired by the place, seasonal themes, and the walking routes. It will exhibit content created by the local community as well as showcase a wide variety of inspiring existing works.

The project will share Colchester’s voices, connect people to place and celebrate local distinctiveness. We see this project growing in the future, with evolving content to reflect the ever-changing landscape and community.

The opportunity

We are looking for a Colchester resident to assist in curating this archive in the lead up to this launch. This would be a great opportunity for somebody looking for experience in the arts sector who wants to be able to demonstrate a breadth of skills to add depth to their CV.

This position offers the opportunity to play a direct role in inspiring your community to be part of this new public landscape of storytelling. This could be the beginning of a wider role within the life of the project, with budget available for a ‘light-touch’ stewardship role. The archive will launch in Spring 2024, and this role supports the build-up to this.

The role

The main tasks for this role:

  • agreeing the tasks and timescales
  • conducting web-based research
  • researching in libraries and archives
  • working with historians
  • distilling findings into a simple format for review
  • contacting authors to secure permissions
  • digitising content (i.e. producing text files, high quality scans)
  • assisting in curating this body of work

Additional opportunities:

  • supporting in community workshops
  • assisting in curating and installing a physical exhibition
  • assisting in marketing and communications

We see this as requiring a commitment of approximately 5 days, carried out remotely and on-site where required, between November 2023 and January 2024. A lump sum of £100 will be provided to cover expenses.

How to apply

If you are interested, please send your CV and a short paragraph (under 200 words) detailing any relevant experience to [email protected] by November 13th 2023.

Please direct any questions to [email protected].